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Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

virginiamercury.com

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Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#391

Post by Jommi »

dcolkitt wrote: post #341
teloli wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, am I glad to be European. Walk to the bar, cycle to work, take the tram if it rains. American cities built for cars are just so sad.

Except, the difference is mostly a stereotype that isn't held up by the data. In France, 70% of commuters travel by car and only 3% by cycling.[1] That's less car-centric than America for sure. But Americans have a misguided notion that all Europeans live in quaint pedestrian-friendly town centers that look like Prague or Copenhagen. Mostly because we tend to spend our European tourism in the dense centers of the cap…

This is for France as a whole, not Paris. Ofc the figures will be majority car when you take a whole country into account instead of a city/metro area.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#392

Post by Noumenon72 »

yw3410 wrote: post #354
inglor_cz wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a city that has a lot of public transport (Prague): some people will dart in front of fully loaded buses, trams, or even trains at a railway crossing. That is humanity at its finest. (/s) I would be pissed off if maximum speed of a train (a 20000+ bhp murder machine, by your standard) that I use to commute was lowered to some 10 kph in order to keep those candidates of the Darwin Award alive. Being weaker (pedes…

Please think a little about what you've said; that you'd rather a fellow human would be killed for less than 5 minutes of convenience for you.

That's exactly what the jaywalker said about their own life when they decided to jump out into traffic to get across sooner. And it's a rational calculation: the five minutes saved is concretely useful and the chance of a death is low. When you do the math and present value calculation, you get more of your life to enjoy if you risk it sometimes.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#393

Post by Jommi »

RobRivera wrote: post #357
teloli wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, am I glad to be European. Walk to the bar, cycle to work, take the tram if it rains. American cities built for cars are just so sad.

I love my kansas city sprawl. It's not for everyone, but it certainty isn't sad in my eyes, or that of my friends.

Great that you like it. Your health, and the world's, however, does not. Shame about that.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#394

Post by Jommi »

megablast wrote: post #364
dijit wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh! Which one? I can only think of NYC but that’s really inhospitable to cyclists too. :/

Chicago, San Francisco. Even la has a decent bus system.

LA has a decent bus system? Are you serious? Have you ever lived in LA, and lived in a european city?

LA has no unified bus system. It has multiple ones and its super confusing. Each bus makes a stop nearly every minute, making every ride impossibly long. Lack of bus lanes make for shitty traffic stuck trips as well.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#395

Post by Jommi »

biztos wrote: post #358
dijit wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh! Which one? I can only think of NYC but that’s really inhospitable to cyclists too. :/

Totally doable in San Francisco, Santa Monica, and Downtown Los Angeles, just to name three I know well enough in California to know that about them.

You're lucky if you are able to live and work in SM or DTLA. Majority of people do not.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#396

Post by andykx »

Jommi wrote: post #394
megablast wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chicago, San Francisco. Even la has a decent bus system.

LA has a decent bus system? Are you serious? Have you ever lived in LA, and lived in a european city? LA has no unified bus system. It has multiple ones and its super confusing. Each bus makes a stop nearly every minute, making every ride impossibly long. Lack of bus lanes make for shitty traffic stuck trips as well.

Yeah, LA is probably the worst (large) city in the US when it comes to public transport.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#397

Post by [deleted] »

umvi wrote: post #317
chrisseaton wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are the safety issue. Without you there is no safety issue. And you should drive accordingly.

It takes two to tango. Without the jaywalker there is no safety issue either. So jaywalkers should jaywalk accordingly.

[deleted]

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#398

Post by chrisseaton »

umvi wrote: post #317
chrisseaton wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are the safety issue. Without you there is no safety issue. And you should drive accordingly.

It takes two to tango. Without the jaywalker there is no safety issue either. So jaywalkers should jaywalk accordingly.

> Without the jaywalker there is no safety issue either.

This isn’t true - a street of just cars will have lethal crashes amongst themselves even with no pedestrians. A street of just pedestrians will never lethally bump into each other. The only lethal thing in the situation is the cars.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#399

Post by chrisseaton »

umvi wrote: post #314
anigbrowl wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have more power, therefore a greater burden should fall on the pedestrian than you? Hmm.

Yes. If you disagree, jump in front of an oncoming train at the last second. After all the train has much more power than you and therefore the burden falls on the train operator to keep an eye out for you and save your life.

Train lines rarely run through shared space with pedestrians in the West. Cars want to run through shared space all over the place.

Re: Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime

#400

Post by CalRobert »

nomel wrote: post #274
CalRobert wrote: post #199

Criminalizing jaywalking wasn't about making it illegal to walk across the street. It was about making it legal to kill people doing so with your car. If you want to kill someone in the US it's de facto legal to do so with your car. Just be sober and say you didn't see them.

As someone that nearly hit someone that walked out from behind a bush, with a chemically fueled disregard for the world, I don't think the rules are so bad. As unpopular as the opinion appears to be here, I don't like the idea of having to dodge humans randomly entering the road. Should we also take down the signals and barriers that prevent cars from crossing train tracks, since they have the similar goal of prevent…

I am not downvoting you. Your comment illustrates the mindset difference here, and honestly before I left the US I wasn't so different. But as noted in the article, streets used to be for play, chatting, etc. It would be more convenient to go deer hunting on playgrounds if shooting kids on accident had no consequences, too.
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